A Houston-area man bought a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro SS, drove it for four months, and then learned the car had another identity.
The 20-year-old buyer, who asked not to be identified, told KPRC 2 he paid Sam’s Auto Sales on Airline Drive $7,000 down and began making monthly payments toward the $25,000 purchase price.
He discovered the problem when he tried to trade the Camaro at another dealership about four months later.
Police impounded the car. “I’m very devastated. I am very, very disappointed,” he told the outlet. “I really thought it was a nice car. I had high hopes for it.”
Sam’s Auto Sales said it had bought the Camaro through a Houston Police Department auction and did not know it was stolen.
Something Doesn’t Match
Embedded media follows; please allow a moment for it to load.
“They had told me that the car was VIN-swapped and it was registered as stolen,” the buyer told KPRC 2.
Titles, registrations, vehicle-history reports and stolen-vehicle records all follow a vehicle identification number.
The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles warns that thieves sometimes remove a VIN plate and replace it with one taken from a similar vehicle.
A database may accurately report the history attached to a VIN even when that number has been placed on a different vehicle.
A Very Official Paper Trail
The Houston Police Department auctions unclaimed vehicles held at licensed storage facilities.
Winning bidders receive an HPD Auction Sales Receipt and can take it to a county tax office to transfer the vehicle into their name. HPD sells the cars “as is, where is,” and gives bidders only a short visual-inspection period before the sale.
Texas law lays out what must happen before an abandoned vehicle reaches auction.
After law enforcement takes a vehicle into custody, the agency must notify the registered owner and any recorded lienholder. The notice identifies where the vehicle is being held and gives them an opportunity to reclaim it.
If someone previously reported that vehicle stolen, the law also requires notice to the person who filed the theft report.
If no owner or lienholder reclaims the vehicle during the required notice period, it can go to public auction.
Under Texas Transportation Code Section 683.014, the purchaser then takes it “free and clear of all liens and claims of ownership.”
The buyer receives the law-enforcement sales receipt and can use it to obtain title.
Under the Surface
Now change the VIN before any of that happens.
A stolen Camaro is recovered carrying a number that belongs to another vehicle. Police run the number and get the records attached to it. Any required notices are based on that identity, and the same number can then appear on the auction paperwork and later title application.
HPD is investigating how a stolen vehicle with a mismatched identity made it through the auction process.
Sam’s Auto Sales said the paperwork it received through the HPD auction was sufficient to obtain title. Four months after the dealership sold the Camaro, another dealer found the mismatch.
The manager also said roughly 90% of the dealership’s vehicles come from HPD auctions. Sam’s has since begun electronically checking VINs before buying vehicles.
Not the First Time
Houston has dealt with a stolen vehicle reaching a police auction before.
In 2007, the Houston Police Department asked City Council to release $25,982 to Maluenda Motors, a Dallas dealership whose stolen 2005 Lincoln had been recovered in Houston.
HPD reported that Maluenda Motors did not receive Houston’s notifications that officers had recovered the Lincoln.
The city later sold the vehicle at a police auction on Dec. 5, 2006.
Maluenda Motors filed a claim for the proceeds, and HPD determined the dealership was entitled to the $25,982 generated by the sale.